Large-capacity photonic packet switch using the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology is proposed. In this switch, the optical buffers, consisting of the fiber delay lines, are shared in many input ports by using the WDM. Furthermore, to reduce the number of optical buffers, the speed-up effect in the optical switch part is investigated. A high-speed tunable optical filter incorporating a semiconductor ring resonator is a key device in the proposed packet switch because many optical filters are used. Optical ring resonators should be possible to fabricate them at a low cost because of their simple structure. To achieve a wide tuning range we designed a double-ring structure, in which two ring resonators are connected in series, and fabricated it using the InGaAsP-InP material system. This device exhibits a total free spectral range (FSR) of 1.7 THz and contrast ratio of 9.5 dB. The ring radii are 25.2 and 17.8 µm, which correspond to FSRs of 340 and 425 GHz, respectively. The switching time of the device is 2.5 ns.

We propose a novel structure that can reduce the power consumption and extend the transmission distance of an electro-absorption modulator integrated with a DFB (EADFB) laser. To overcome the trade-off relationship of the optical loss and chirp parameter of the EA modulator, we integrate a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with an EADFB laser. With the proposed SOA assisted extended reach EADFB laser (AXEL) structure, the LD and SOA sections are operated by an electrically connected input port. We describe a design for AXEL that optimizes the LD and SOA length ratio when their total operation current is 80mA. By using the designed AXEL, the power consumption of a 10-Gbit/s, 1.55-µm EADFB laser is reduced by 1/2 and at the same time the transmission distance is extended from 80 to 100km.

We propose and demonstrate a novel ladder interferometric filter that exhibits flat-topped spectral response for use in wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) based photonic networks. We numerically analyze the flattened spectral response in a ladder-type filter by modifying the transfer matrix of ladder interferometer. Conventional parabolic-shaped and flat-topped-designed ladder interferometric filters are fabricated, and characterized. We demonstrate a flat-topped filter response in the fabricated device. The shape factor, which is defined by the ratio of -1 dB bandwidth to -10 dB bandwidth, is improved from 0.32 to 0.54. The tunability and the increase in filter extinction ratio of the proposed device are also discussed.